A sustainable agriculture initiative

As India’s demand for mangos grows, so does the need to increase per acre yield on a long-term and sustainable basis. This project addresses the need through creating farmer training programs to enable adoption of the Ultra-High Density Plantation (UHDP) technique.

Project Unnati is a unique partnership with farmers to demonstrate and enable adoption of Ultra-High Density Plantation (UHDP) practice for mangoes. The Project will encourage sustainable, modern agricultural practices and help double the mango yield, thereby increasing the income of farmers. UHDP is a farming practice that leads to mango orchards attaining their full potential in 3-4 years and also allows nearly 700 trees to be planted in an acre instead of the conventional method of planting 60 trees in an acre. This will improve per acre productivity and also increase the annual income of farmers and simultaneously decrease the quantity of water used per kilogram of mango produced

The program will use specialized buses with in-built classrooms to provide training regarding UHDP techniques in mango farming right at the farmers’ doorstep which can help them double their mango yields and thus significantly improve their livelihood. The project has an investment outlay of more than 50 crore rupees. This project is operational in 3 southern states of India – Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu & Karnataka.

Ultra High density Plantation of Mango

Ultra high density plantation farming technique has been developed by JISL with the help of its scientists and agronomists. This technology was first demonstrated on our own farm in Jalgaon and Udumalpet. The results were very promising and after being successful there, we decided to do the plantation on the farmer’s field.

UHDP process requires mango grafts of commercial varieties planted close to each other. Special techniques of pruning, fertigation, irrigation and growth promotion leads to the well-rounded growth of mango orchards with sufficient number of branches and shoots. Special care for nutrition management and pest control are also undertaken. Together, these modern techniques are expected to enhance the produce by as high as 200%, as compared to traditional plantation methods.

With the application of Jain Farm Fresh Foods Ltd. G.A.P, we are trying to help farmers increase their productivity, lower operating costs and minimize wastage of pesticide/ insecticide. Agronomical support is being provided to the farmers with the help of agronomist appointed by us.

Total 13840 farmers will be covered under this project and UHDP mango will be planted in 25000 acres in next 10 years. To help farmers in UHDP mango production, we provide soil water analysis to the farmers at our Chittoor laboratory. Better planting of disease free material is also provided.

Training is given to farmers with the help of mobile training buses which mainly educate them about increasing productivity with the help of rejuvenation techniques like pruning, grafting and top working.

Rejuvenation of old orchards

Project Unnati not only focuses on UHDP implementation on new fields but also tries to revive old orchards with help of rejuvenation techniques. This project will provide the technical advice through mobile trainings, field extensions & demo plot visits. All this support will be free of charge to the farmers.

Mechanism of buy back of produce

With the application of all these processes and procedures, Jain Farm Fresh Foods Ltd.(JFFFL) is trying to help farmers increase their productivity and raise their income levels. At the same time we are trying to protect the farmers from price fluctuations. We establish a mechanism of buy back of produce at a certain price so that the farmers are secured against market fluctuation of prices. We also try to achieve inclusive growth by providing higher employment and simultaneously achieve greater “food security”. This results in optimization of operating costs and a higher use efficiency per unit of input applied

Successful Journey of Project Unnati

Over 2200 farmer have been trained by the Unnati Bus in the last 5 years in Chittor/ Kuppam district of Andhra Pradesh only

Over 1000 new UHDP mango orchards have been established in 3 states

Procurement of traceable and sustainable fruit directly from the farmers started in Andhra Pradesh

We envision a future which brings back the golden years of agrarian productivity. We are working towards this by increasing our contribution to the economic and social welfare of farmers and promoting environmental inclusive practices. Unnati is one such small initiative to kick-start this revolution.